3D Game Development with Microsoft Silverlight 3: Beginner's Guide Table Of Contents

Table of Contents

• Preface

• Chapter 1: Lights, Camera, and Action!
• UFOs in the sky!: Invaders
• Time for action – preparing the development environment
• Time for action – recognizing digital art assets
• Time for action – creating the raster digital content
• Digital Content Creation tools
• Basic elements of a 2D and/or 3D real-time game
• Programming responsibilities
• Time for action – installing tools to manipulate scalable digital content
• XAML works fine with Silverlight 3
• Time for action – creating the scalable digital content in XAML
• Previewing and scaling XAML vector graphics
• Time for action – testing the scalable digital content using XamlPad
• Editing vector illustrations using Expression Design
• Preparing a gaming framework
• Time for action – creating Silverlight applications
• Time for action – building and running Silverlight applications
• Programming event handlers in the main page
• Time for action – creating XBAP WPF applications
• Time for action – building and running the XBAP WPF applications
• Summary

• Chapter 2: Working with 2D Characters
• Creating an accelerated graphics viewport
• Time for action – enabling hardware acceleration
• Time for action – transforming media using the GPU
• Caching rendered content
• Scaling and rotating a vector-based illustration
• Time for action – shaking many illustrations at the same time
• Running loops faster
• Accelerating transforms and blends
• Using 2D vectors
• Time for action – detecting GPU-acceleration problems
• Understanding GPU acceleration limitations
• Creating encapsulated object-oriented characters
• Time for action – creating User Control classes to hold images
• Time for action – displaying images and sprites
• Showing a sprite on the screen
• Defining the behavior
• Understanding dimensions
• Managing resolutions
• Screen resolutions
• Summary

• Chapter 3: Combining Sprites with Backgrounds
• The first remake assignment
• Time for action – creating sprites based on XAML vector-based graphics
• Defining the relative center point
• Time for action – creating a specialized sprite management class
• Taking full advantage of object-oriented capabilities
• Preparing the classes for inheritance
• Wrapping a UserControl to manage it
• Time for action – creating a superclass for some characters
• Time for action – creating the subclasses for the characters
• Time for action – creating methods for the game loop
• Creating objects on the fly
• Managing dynamic objects
• Time for action – writing the game loop
• Animating multiple sprites
• Managing a complex game loop
• Time for action – detecting collisions between 2D characters
• Using colors to paint sprites
• Summary

• Chapter 4: Working with 3D Characters
• The second remake assignment
• Time for Action – exporting a 3D model without considering textures
• XAML 3D models
• Time for action – from DCC tools to WPF
• XBAP WPF applications with 3D content
• Time for action – displaying a 3D model in a 2D screen with WPF
• Understanding the 3D world
• X, Y, and Z in practice
• GPU 3D acceleration
• Understanding meshes
• Time for action – using other XAML exporter for DCC tools
• Time for action – adding 3D elements and interacting with them  using Expression Blend
• Interacting with 3D elements using Expression Blend
• Silverlight and the 3D world
• Time for action – exporting a 3D model to ASE
• Time for action – installing Balder 3D engine
• Time for action – from DCC tools to Silverlight
• Displaying a 3D model in a 2D screen with Silverlight
• Using 3D vectors
• Summary

• Chapter 5: Controlling the Cameras: Giving Life to Lights and Actions
• Understanding 3D cameras
• Time for action – when seeing is believing
• Controlling the position, the direction, and the up vector
• Time for action – performing transformations
• Defining and applying transformations
• Time for action – zooming in and out
• Controlling the perspective field of view
• Controlling the clipping planes
• Time for action – understanding perspective and orthographic cameras
• Silverlight and the cameras
• Time for action – controlling cameras on the fly
• Understanding cameras related to matrixes
• Summary

• Chapter 6: Controlling Input Devices to Provide Great Feedback
• Giving life to the game!
• Time for action – creating a keyboard manager class
• Using the keyboard
• Time for action – programming the input control in the game loop
• Time for action – mapping a gamepad to the keyboard
• Understanding the gamepad as an input device
• Time for action – using the gamepad
• Time for action – creating a mouse manager class
• Using the mouse
• Time for action – using the mouse manager in the game loop
• Time for action – using the gamepad as a mouse
• Time for action – rotating cameras using input devices
• Bridging with DirectInput capabilities
• Time for action – installing the necessary SDKs
• Considering deployment's additional requirements
• Time for action – understanding sticks and buttons
• Understanding the steering wheel as an input device
• Time for action – testing the input devices with a DirectInput wrapper
• Understanding the analog axis for a steering wheel
• Understanding the analog axis for a gamepad
• Time for action – adapting a joystick manager class
• Time for action – using the steering wheel in the game loop
• Using the joystick manager
• Working with many input devices
• Using other input devices
• Summary

• Chapter 7: Using Effects and Textures to Amaze
• Dressing characters using textures
• Time for action – adding textures in DCC tools
• Time for action – exporting 3D models from DCC tools to Silverlight
• Displaying a 3D model using textures in a 2D screen with Silverlight
• Time for action – enveloping 3D models
• Understanding textures
• Repeating textures as tiles
• Time for action – replacing textures
• Displaying lights, shadows, materials, and textures
• Time for action – working with lights and understanding shadows
• Understanding different kinds of lights
• Summary

• Chapter 8: Animating 3D Characters
• Invaders 3D
• Time for action – adding a UFO
• Time for action – creating a new game superclass to generalize  time management capabilities
• Time for action – specializing a game superclass
• Time for action – creating a subclass for a 3D character
• Using an Actor to represent a 3D character
• Time for action – adding an Actor to the game
• Moving 3D characters as Actors
• Time for action – rotating 3D characters
• Using the World matrix in order to perform transformations to meshes
• Performing compound transformations
• Time for action – scaling 3D characters
• Using the World matrix in order to scale meshes
• Using bones and skeletons
• Time for action – animating models with skeletons and bones
• Using skeletons and bones
• Time for action – adding an Actor with skeletons and bones  to the game
• Understanding complex 3D animation techniques
• Summary

• Chapter 9: Adding Realistic Motions Using a Physics Engine
• Using physical principles in games to beat invaders
• Time for action – installing Farseer Physics Engine
• Time for action – adding parallel physics bodies and  geometries to 3D characters
• Creating bodies
• Creating geometries
• Updating a 3D model according to the associated body's properties
• Time for action – working with forces, impulses, acceleration,  and speed
• Specifying the gravitational force
• Applying forces
• Applying impulses
• Working with a 2D physics simulator in the game loop
• Time for action – working with torques and rotations
• Applying torques
• Translating 2D physics to a 3D world
• Working with Farseer Physics Engine in XBAP WPF applications
• Summary

• Chapter 10: Applying Artificial Intelligence
• Detecting collisions between 3D characters
• Time for action – adding a second UFO
• Time for action – detecting collisions between 3D characters
• Working with advanced responses to collisions
• Controlling collision moments using events
• Working with collision categories
• Using engines to improve collision detection precision
• Using artificial intelligence in games to control 3D characters
• Time for action – using chasing algorithms
• Working with states for the characters
• Pursuing an enemy
• Generating and controlling random situations
• Time for action – using evasion algorithms
• Evading an enemy
• The advantages of using an AI engine
• Summary

• Chapter 11: Applying Special Effects
• Working with 3D characters in the background
• Time for action – adding a transition to start the game
• Time for action – creating a low polygon count meteor model
• Time for action – from 3D Studio Max to Silverlight
• Time for action – creating a subclass for a 3D meteor
• Time for action – creating and controlling a meteor rain
• Advantages of using multiple physics engines
• Time for action – simulating fluids with movement
• Simulating waves
• Time for action – creating a subclass for a complex asteroid belt
• Using an Actor to represent a wave in the background
• Time for action – adding an asteroid belt background to the game
• Working with encapsulated physics controllers
• Summary

• Chapter 12: Controlling Statistics and Scoring
• Showing gauges and scorecards
• Time for action – using special fonts
• Embedding fonts in the project
• Time for action – creating a score gauge showing text
• Using Expression Blend to create 2D gauges
• Time for action – showing a score gauge
• Calculating, saving, and showing statistics
• Time for action – creating a bonus gauge showing text
• Time for action – creating a fuel gauge
• Time for action – creating a remaining lives gauge
• Using a panel to show many aligned user controls
• Time for action – showing and updating multiple gauges
• Working with multiple gauges
• Summary

• Chapter 13: Adding Environments and Scenarios
• Working with levels and stages
• Time for action – installing Windows Presentation Foundation
• Pixel Shader Effects Library
• Time for action – adding screens to organize the game
• Time for action – applying transition effects
• Rendering a WriteableBitmap and using it as an ImageBrush
• Creating a StoryBoard
• Working with a StoryBoard to animate an effect
• Time for action – changing the transition effect
• Exploring transition effects
• Working with multiple transition effects
• Time for action – using skill levels
• Time for action – changing and improving the environments  according to the skill level
• Retrieving values for parameters using LINQ to XML
• Time for action – saving configurations
• Summary

• Chapter 14: Adding Sound, Music, and Video
• Hear the UFOs coming
• Time for action – installing tools to manipulate videos
• Time for action – preparing a video to use it in Silverlight
• Video formats supported in Silverlight 3
• Using free applications to convert video formats
• Time for action – reproducing videos
• Locating videos in a related web site
• Stretching videos
• Taking advantage of GPU acceleration to scale videos
• Time for action – applying projections
• Time for action – animating projections
• Working with a StoryBoard in XAML to animate a projection
• Time for action – solving navigation problems
• Time for action – reproducing music
• Time for action – preparing audio files to use them in Silverlight
• Audio formats supported in Silverlight 3
• Using free applications to convert audio formats
• Time for action – creating a class to handle audio concurrency
• Using a round robin algorithm to work with concurrent sounds
• Time for action – generating sounds associated to game events
• Summary

• Appendix: Pop Quiz Answers

• Index